Shakespeare presents ambition through certain characters in the play. This is shown through Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Both of them use their ambition in atrocious ways which led to their demise.
In this extract, Shakespeare presents ambition through Lady Macbeth. Lady Macbeth's ambition to assert dominance over everyone led her to implant heinous thoughts that can be detrimental to certain individuals. Her excessive ambition can be seen in her soliloquy "Art not without ambition" , From this quote it can be inferred that Lady Macbeth believes Macbeth lacks ambition as she states Macbeth "is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness" suggesting Lady Macbeth's trying to give Macbeth an abominable influence as she metaphorically exclaims "pour spirits" in Macbeth's ear to lead him into a paradoxical way compared to a normal Jacobean gentleman. This illustrates Lady Macbeths Evil ambition to lead being a the dominant person. This is contrasting to how Jacobean women are portrayed, suggesting Lady Macbeth rejecting traditional Jacobean gender roles in order for her evil-led ambition to thrive. In Act 1 Scene 5, Lady Macbeth can also be seen invoking the supernatural to remove her feminine qualities and fill her with cruelty and ruthlessness. Her continual use of imperatives such as "come", "unsex" and "fill" portrays her commanding tone and also her desperation for ambition.
In Act 1 scene 7, It can be seen Lady Macbeth trying to force Macbeth into committing a sacrilegious act of Regicide by killing Duncan in order to make it convenient for Macbeth to gain the Throne so she has her ambition fulfilled. Lady Macbeth's calibre to influence has played a big role. Her calibre to influence Macbeth by questioning his masculinity by using adjectives such as "Coward" and "Pale and green" led him to commit a gargantuous sin that people in the society viewed it abominable. This is because this sin disrupts the great chain of being which states that the king is chosen by God meaning if a person kills a king it means they have killed one of God's member and it is also believed that they will serve great punishment hereafter. This tantalizing decision of Macbeth made himself feel guilty. It can be seen when he is so pressurized and stressed out in the situation that he forgot to leave the daggers in the place he committed murder. However, Lady Macbeth can be seen as a character who doesn't feel guilty after it also she was more brave than Macbeth as she went and placed the daggers in the room.
In Act 3, we can see contrasting results from the early scenes, Shakespeare presents Macbeth as the person who embodies ambition.
This can be seen when Macbeth was visiting the witches regularly as the supernatural had the power to foresight. Macbeth's trepidation to people disrupting his ambition and his aggrandize made him to become excessively malevolent. This is shown when Macbeth killed Banquo due to the witches prophecies stating Banquo's descendants will takeover the throne. This paradoxical behaviour of Macbeth is in contrast from the early scenes depicting Lady Macbeth's influence over Macbeth was quite vital.
However during Act 5, Lady Macbeth can be seen who exhibits great vulnerability and guilt due to her faulty ambition. Her once bright enthusiasm can be seen to be dimmed replacing by a sense of guilt and great vulnerability. This can be see when she was sleepwalking and performing an ablution exclaiming "Out! damned spot! Out I say!". Her repetition of the imperative "Out" depicts her desperation of getting rid of her sin further instituted by her hyperbolic phrase "All perfumes of Saudi Arabia will not sweeten this little hand!". This shows the devastating consequences for disrupting God's plan as Lady Macbeth eventually commits a suicide making her place in hell. Perhaps Shakespeare did this to warn the Jacobean era to not follow their abominable and atrocious ambition as it leads them to turn paradoxical and malevolent building their place in hell hereafter.
Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth and Macbeth going in a wrong pathway to achieve their ambition which eventually causes their demise as they imbuild poison in them that unconsciously is destroying them completely internally.
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